“She’s Not Authorised…”: BJP On Kangana Ranaut’s Farmers’ Protest Remarks

New Delhi:

Actor-politician Kangana Ranaut has been reprimanded by the BJP leadership after her remarks on the farmers’ protest triggered controversy. A clarification accompanied the reproof: Ms Ranaut’s remark does not represent the party’s views. The BJP expresses disagreement with it.

The BJP’s disapproval came a day after the 38-year-old suggested that the farmers’ protest could have led to a Bangladesh-like crisis in India if not for the strong steps taken by the government.

“Kangana Ranaut is not authorised to speak on policy matters on behalf of the party and has not been given permission to do so. The BJP has directed Ms Ranaut to refrain from making such statements in the future,” the BJP said in a statement.

Earlier, BJP leaders in Haryana and Punjab also advised the MP from Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi to refrain from making inflammatory comments. “It is not Kangana’s department to speak on farmers, Kangana’s statement is personal. PM Modi and the BJP are farmer-friendly. The Opposition parties are working against us and Kangana’s statement is doing the same. She should not make such statements, on sensitive or religious issues, religious organisations,” Punjab BJP leader Harjit Grewal said.

Her comments also drew a response from the Congress with leader Randeep Surjewala asking the BJP leader to “get well soon”. Mr Surjewala. who is campaigning in poll-bound Haryana that witnessed year-long farmers’ protest, asked, “Were these just Kangana’s words or did someone else copy them? If not, then why is the BJP silent on the issue?”

Ms Ranaut – who has issued several provocative remarks in the past – has been a strong critic of the farmers’ protest against the now-repealed three farm laws.

In 2020, she allegedly misidentified a woman farmer from Punjab who was taking part in the protests and called her Bilkis Bano – an elderly woman who had become one of the faces of the anti-Citizenship Amendment Law (CAA) protests earlier in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh. She had also said the woman was “available for Rs 100”, suggesting she could be hired for protests.

The statement sparked a massive row that escalated further when Ms Ranaut was slapped by a woman Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) constable at the Chandigarh airport while she was on her way to Delhi in June this year.